Infodemic surrounding COVID-19: Can LIS students recognize and categorize “problematic information” types on social media?

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate Library and Information Science (LIS) students’ understanding of infodemic and related terminologies and their ability to categorize COVID-19-related problematic information types using examples from social media platforms. Design/methodology/approach The participants of this study were LIS students from a public-funded university located at the south coast of Bangladesh. An online survey was conducted which, in addition to demographic and study information, asked students to identify the correct definition of infodemic and related terminologies and to categorize the COVID-related problematic social media posts based on their inherent problem characteristics. The correct answer for each definition and task question was assigned a score of “1”, whereas the wrong answer was coded as “0”. The percentages of correctness score for total and each category of definition and task-specific questions were computed. The independent sample t-test and ANOVA were run to examine the differences in total and category-specific scores between student groups. Findings The findings revealed that students’ knowledge concerning the definition of infodemic and related terminologies and the categorization of COVID-19-related problematic social media posts was poor. There was no significant difference in correctness scores between student groups in terms of gender, age and study levels. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first time an effort was made to understand LIS students’ recognition and classification of problematic information. The findings can assist LIS departments in revising and improving the existing information literacy curriculum for students.

The effects of misinformation on COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in Bangladesh

“…According to Gu and Feng (2021), a comprehensive literacy that combines both scientific literacy and information literacy is required for the understanding of and the capacity to use information effectively in this COVID-19 pandemic. Yesmin and Ahmed (2021), however, found that even library and information science students had a poor understanding of COVID-19-related problematic information on social media.…”

Do students look for information differently? Information-seeking behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic

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“…Particularly, the present study largely focused on the changes of using information sources before the COVID-19 and during the pandemic time. There have been very few studies in the context of Bangladesh which are limited by research areas, for DLP 39,2 example, vaccine hesitancy (Mahmud et al, 2021); problematic information during the pandemic time (Yesmin and Ahmed, 2022); and use of social media in COVID-19 times (Atikuzzaman, 2022). However, none of these previous studies in Bangladesh did focus on students' information need, sources and its changes overtimes, challenges they face and rate of understanding to examine the information sources in the pandemic time.…”

Access, organize and communicate: the strategic use of browser plugins in libraries

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